FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE September 24, 2020 MEDIA CONTACT Kat Harding | (440) 759-8148 | [email protected] North Carolina Museu

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE September 24, 2020

MEDIA CONTACT Kat Harding | (440) 759-8148 | [email protected]

North Carolina Museum of Art Opens Two Special Exhibitions

Good as Gold: Fashioning Senegalese Women and Leonardo Drew: Making Chaos Legible join works by North Carolina painters, plus new free exhibitions spotlighting Museum collection and architecture

Raleigh, N.C.—The North Carolina Museum of Art (NCMA) has opened and extended two new special exhibitions that were originally planned for spring: Good as Gold: Fashioning Senegalese Women and Leonardo Drew: Making Chaos Legible are on view through January 3, 2021. The two join previously opened exhibitions Front Burner: Highlights in Contemporary North Carolina Painting and Christopher Holt: Contemporary Frescoes/Faith and Community. With creative adjustments to the challenges of the pandemic, including reproductions of works that couldn’t be installed made accessible through QR codes and virtual exhibition options, visitors can now enjoy this trip around the world through art in person and online.

Good as Gold: Fashioning Senegalese Women, with more than 150 objects, is the first major exhibition of Senegalese gold jewelry that focuses on the history of Senegal’s gold, from past to present, and the beauty and complexity of the way Senegalese women use ornament and fashion to present themselves. A key theme of the exhibition is the Senegalese concept of sañse (a Wolof word for dressing up or looking and feeling good). Good as Gold explores how a woman in a city like Dakar might use a piece of gold jewelry to build a carefully tailored, elegant fashion ensemble.

Leonardo Drew: Making Chaos Legible is the second part of a two-part project by contemporary artist Leonardo Drew. The monumental outdoor sculpture City in the Grass was on view in the Museum Park February 1–September 7, and now a solo gallery exhibition is open, providing an in-depth look at Drew’s diverse body of work. Using a variety of materials—wood, cotton, canvas, paper, steel,

(continued) North Carolina Museum of Art Opens Two Special Exhibitions aluminum, sand—Drew creates dynamic sculptures and installations that explode and expand into their spaces. These gravity-defying artworks convey a feeling of barely contained or restrained energy and chaos.

“We are so grateful that Good as Gold and Making Chaos Legible could be installed and are now on view,” said Museum Director Valerie Hillings. “While the pandemic certainly posed a challenge to the process, we were able to overcome it with innovative, technology-driven solutions, and our visitors can now safely explore these exhibitions.”

The exhibitions were ready for installation shortly before the COVID-19 pandemic required the NCMA to close its galleries in March. With safety precautions in place, the Museum’s art handlers, exhibition designers, and curators were able to continue working on the exhibitions, even though travel restrictions prevented couriers from the Smithsonian Museum of African Art from installing more than 20 objects in Good as Gold.

Exhibition designer Molly Trask-Price, along with manager of interpretation Felicia Ingram, came up with a unique solution, creating life-size reproductions of the missing works printed on resin. Noticeable by their purple hue, the reproductions are installed in the cases alongside the gold pieces. Visitors can scan a QR code to learn more about each item and are greeted with a video explanation as they enter the exhibition.

The installation of Making Chaos Legible was also adjusted, as artist Leonardo Drew was unable to travel from New York. With video calls and a monitor on wheels, Drew was able to remotely oversee the installation and work with NCMA staff to ensure his vision for the site- specific pieces was accomplished.

In the coming weeks, visitors will also be able to explore the exhibitions virtually through art spotlights and curator interviews. Content for Good as Gold and Making Chaos Legible will be available October 9, with Front Burner and Christopher Holt following October 25. For a one-time fee of $10 for nonmembers or $8 for members, viewers will eventually have virtual access to eight exhibitions.

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More information and joint exhibition tickets for Good as Gold: Fashioning Senegalese Women, Leonardo Drew: Making Chaos Legible, Front Burner: Highlights in Contemporary North Carolina Painting, and Christopher Holt: Contemporary Frescoes/Faith and Community are available here. Exhibition tickets, including taxes and fees, are free for a member’s first visit and half price for subsequent visits; free for children 6 and under; $13.94 for youth ages 7 to 18; $17.16 for seniors, military, and college students with ID; and $20.38 for other adults.

Additional Collection Exhibitions These exhibitions showcase the Museum’s free collection and do not require a paid ticket; visitors must reserve a free timed ticket at visit.ncartmuseum.org.

Reflections on Light: Works from the NCMA Collection Through February 14, 2021 East Building, Level B, Video Gallery, Photography Gallery 1 (Julian T. Baker Jr. Gallery) and 2 (Allen G. Thomas Jr. Gallery)

Featuring objects from 16 countries and spanning more than 2,500 years of art history, Reflections on Light: Works from the NCMA Collection honors the diverse collections of the North Carolina Museum of Art. Reflections on Light shows how artists from many eras—from ancient Guatemala to 20th-century Ghana— responded to, used, and revered light.

Reflections on Light was organized in conjunction with the 10th anniversary of the NCMA’s West Building, which was designed by Thomas Phifer and Partners to allow for an unprecedented experience of art in natural light. This exhibition explores the diverse ways in which natural and artificial light have affected artists over time. It illuminates how artists drew with, painted, expressed, and harnessed light, and how light lets us look back through time as we investigate the history of our Museum collection.

Miracle on Morgan Street: The Foundations of the NCMA, 1946–1960 October 3, 2020–April 11, 2021 East Building, Level A, Studio 3

In 1947 the North Carolina General Assembly passed an unprecedented appropriations bill setting aside one million dollars for the purchase of a public art collection, leading to the creation of the North Carolina Museum of Art in 1956. The Museum’s opening was the culmination of a 30-year effort to establish an art museum in downtown Raleigh and was hailed in the local press as the “Miracle on Morgan Street.” This exhibition tells the story of the NCMA’s founding and

3 North Carolina Museum of Art Opens Two Special Exhibitions development between 1946 and 1960, including its acquisition of an impressive core collection; early leadership under a veteran museum director, Wilhelm R. Valentiner; and receipt of a nationally significant donation of art from the Samuel H. Kress Foundation in 1960.

West Building and the Architecture of Light October 3, 2020–February 7, 2021 West Building

The NCMA celebrates the Thomas Phifer–designed West Building, marking the 10th anniversary of the home of the “People’s Collection.” The building’s 2010 completion and innovative use of light marked not only an award-winning architectural achievement in museum design but also a breakout project for Phifer’s acclaimed firm, Thomas Phifer and Partners, based in New York City. For the NCMA, 2010 was a milestone in the 30-year evolution of its innovative campus.

West Building and the Architecture of Light shows the development of the building’s signature concept: that 5,000 years of art can be elegantly and safely presented in galleries suffused in ever-changing daylight. The exhibition also places West Building in the context of the NCMA’s design philosophy of connecting art and nature, sustainable design, and the social transformation of its former prison site.

A case in Good as Gold featuring digital re-creations of unavailable items

Gallery view of Reflections on Light

Associate Director James Byrnes discusses the Roman Statue of Bacchus (Gift of Mr. and Mrs. John D. Humber, 1958) in a tour for North Carolina “farm women” and representatives from the United Nations during the 48th annual Farm and Home Week in Raleigh, June 6, 1956. Photograph: Robert W. Kelley/The Life Picture Collection

European art, West Building

About the Exhibitions:

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Exhibitions are made possible, in part, by the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources; the North Carolina Museum of Art Foundation, Inc.; and the William R. Kenan Jr. Endowment for Educational Exhibitions.

Good as Gold: Fashioning Senegalese Women is organized by Kevin D. Dumouchelle of the National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution. It is curated by Amanda M. Maples of the North Carolina Museum of Art.

Leonardo Drew: Making Chaos Legible is made possible, in part, by the generous support of the Hartfield Foundation and Libby and Lee Buck.

Reflections on Light is organized by the North Carolina Museum of Art. Generously supported by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Research for this exhibition was made possible by Ann and Jim Goodnight/The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Fund for Curatorial and Conservation Research and Travel.

Miracle on Morgan Street was generously supported by the Mellon Foundation. Support also provided by Rosemary and Smedes York. Research for this exhibition was made possible by Ann and Jim Goodnight/The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Fund for Curatorial and Conservation Research and Travel.

West Building and the Architecture of Light is organized by the North Carolina Museum of Art. Generously supported by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Special thanks to Thomas Phifer and Gabriel Smith, Thomas Phifer Partners, for the generous loan of models, assistance locating images, and sustained cooperation throughout development of the project.

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About the North Carolina Museum of Art The North Carolina Museum of Art’s permanent collection spans more than 5,000 years, from ancient Egypt to the present, making the institution one of the premier art museums in the South. The Museum’s collection provides educational, aesthetic, intellectual, and cultural experiences for the citizens of North Carolina and beyond. The 164-acre Museum Park showcases the connection between art and nature through site-specific works of environmental art. The Museum offers changing national touring exhibitions, classes, lectures, family activities, films, and concerts.

The Museum opened West Building, home to the permanent collection, in 2010. The North Carolina Museum of Art, Valerie Hillings, director, is located at 2110 Blue Ridge Road in Raleigh. It is the art museum of the State of North Carolina, Roy Cooper, governor, and an agency of the Department of Natural and Cultural Resources, Susi Hamilton, secretary.